On June 8, the sixth year of Kayei (July 13, 1853 in the Western calendar), the crowd in Uraga Minato became more and more crowded, and there were also rows of makeshift teahouses on the roadside. Unlike Edo, these teahouses were useless.

Surrounded by reeds, no one paid attention to the charming tea girl. The tea patrons stretched their necks and looked at the sea in the distance. What they whispered were not romantic affairs, but black ships, southern barbarian ghosts and the like.

Yoshida Nobukata had no intention of drinking tea, and looked at the sea from time to time while waiting for his husband Sakuma Shoyama to make a decision.

On the afternoon of Minazuki 3rd (July 8th in the Western calendar), four strange ships suddenly arrived outside Uraga Port. Not to mention they were tall and majestic, two of them actually emitted billowing black smoke. Against the backdrop of the black hull

, just like the hell in the Buddhist scriptures suddenly came to the world.

Seeing such a scene, Uraga was naturally in chaos. Nanman ships had not appeared for several years, and they did not expect to encounter such a disaster again today.

But we can't just watch. Uraga's leader Toda Ujiei and his deputy Ido Hiromichi asked people to ride fast horses to report to Edo Castle, while preparing to send out small boats for warning and questioning - and more than 109 meters

), the large and small ships of the Uraga Navy can only be called small boats.

In the end, the hard work of dealing with the barbarians fell to Saburosuke Nakajima. The reasons are, firstly, Nakajima is proficient in orchid science, and he was ordered to supervise the imitation clipper ship. The shogunate's recent preparations for the construction of large ships were also made by Nakajima.

He is responsible for practical matters. He knows the most about the Western countries. He will not go to anyone. Secondly, Nakajima has fought against the Nanman people. In July of the eighth year of Tianbao (1837), the rice ship Morrison came to invade Nakajima.

Commanding the launch of artillery on the platform is considered to have experienced a big scene.

Nakajima was called by his surname by the superior officer, so he had no choice but to go. He felt a little uneasy. Sixteen years ago when the Morrison docked at the port, he was only seventeen years old, so he was born as a calf and was not afraid of tigers. He didn't understand anything at the time.

After studying Lan Shu for ten years, I finally understood the depth of it - after the Battle of Guangzhou between China and England, who was not scared when I heard that the shogunate revoked the "Foreign Ship Expulsion Order" and replaced it with the "Fuel and Fresh Water Supply Order" the next year?

", today is different from the past, I'm afraid it will be difficult to be kind this time.

The Western ship appeared in the evening, and the Uraga Office went through some strategizing. By the time Nakajima boarded the rice ship, it was already dark - the interpreter also played a part in this, and I don't know whether it was because of the strong wind on the sea or

Why, the two sides couldn't communicate smoothly. In the afternoon, the Western ship appeared and it was identified by its flag as a rice ship. However, I and the two interpreters Horinosuke and Tokujuro Tateiwa shouted in English for a long time, but no one answered.

Saburosuke Nakajima was depressed, and Admiral Perry of the American Eastern Tianzhu Fleet on the Saskana was also depressed.

First of all, this is a military expedition. Approaching an enemy ship at night obviously means hostility. I have ordered everyone to be on alert and fire immediately if anything goes wrong.

Secondly, some people yelled, this is to make trouble. It is not easy to reach the destination on a long voyage. Everyone is exhausted from top to bottom. Is there anything that can't be discussed tomorrow?

In the end, he felt that he had encountered what is often called the fog of the battlefield, and there were some problems with his previous judgment and preparation.

At first, Perry was considered by the U.S. Navy to be the leader of the Fuso expedition - he proposed an expedition plan to Fuso in 1851: bringing more than three large steamships, large-caliber artillery and explosive bombs, if necessary.

To intimidate the Fuso people or simply destroy them; at the same time, sticks and carrots should be used together, and the attitude should be friendly; in view of Fuso's delaying strategy, Nagasaki should be avoided and the heart of Fuso, Edo, should be avoided.

Because the former General Oreck was unable to break up Fuso's situation, Perry replaced Oreck as the admiral of the Eastern Tianzhu Fleet in March 1852. Commander-in-Chief Fillmore granted him his personal credentials and gave Perry three tasks. : This trip to Fuso, for the needs of American navigation and commerce, it is necessary to provide a port of refuge, supply port and trading port.

Considering the difficulty of this task - before Perry's visit, Western countries had negotiated with Fuso many times to open the country and open ports, including 7 times with Russia, 11 times with England, 2 times with France, and 11 times with the United States itself. The instruction here is to "explain to the Fusang people in a sincere manner the need to found the country and that the Mi people have no intention of proselytizing, and that the Mi people have nothing to do with the English. However, if Fusang is stubborn and refuses to conclude a business treaty, that is, Backed by force, it shows toughness and does not compromise the country's prestige."

The meaning of not losing national prestige is "can go to war", which is very consistent with Perry's thoughts - he comes from a navy family, his father was a privateer captain, and later joined the navy, his brother is also a famous tough guy admiral, he He is also known for being unruly, so his previous plan proposed "to intimidate the Fuso people or simply destroy them if necessary." This boss and administrative officials obviously supported him.

As a result, there were long nights and many dreams. After the new commander-in-chief Franklin Pierce took office in 1853, the wind changed. His superiors sent a ship to Xiangjiang to convey new instructions, "The task of our navy is to protect trade. As for whether to declare war, that is the power of Parliament." This Not to mention, the reinforcement of the large fleet that I requested completely failed, my boss

It means "nothing, just the Eastern Tianzhu Fleet, you can do whatever you want."

Perry was not furious. He had already expected the lack of reinforcements. He was known as the "Father of the American Navy Steamship" and had previously demanded exorbitant prices to pay back the money on the spot. In 1837, Perry supervised the construction of the American Navy. He built the army's first steamship, the Fulton, and was promoted to captain in the same year. In 1841, he became the leader of the Tongshui Army Base.

Therefore, he knew the current situation of the U.S. Navy very well. Perry once laughed at himself and said, "The U.S. Navy is declining. While other countries are vigorously developing new warships, we can't even produce ten large steam ships."

The blood of adventurers flows in Perry's body, so although there are no reinforcements and the order does not allow him to go to war, he still plans to complete the task of opening Fuso as a country and a port, hoping to stimulate the merchants who made a fortune on the Pacific route to support the maritime route. With the massive expansion of the army, he can also become a hero in the United States because of the glory of opening the door to the "Oldest Country"! The so-called "Oldest Country" comes from Siebold, a doctor from the Netherlands who returned to the continent of Europa. Later, he wrote the magnificent masterpiece "Fuso". Because he was influenced by Mito's theory "History of Daifuso", he called Fuso "the oldest country" in the book - Mito and other scholars tried their best to attribute it to themselves. Jin openly wrote the contents of folklore into the book and forged the history of the Fuso royal family’s existence since the beginning of the world. How could this not be the “oldest country”?

It doesn't matter whether people like Mito believe it or not. Anyway, Siebold was deceived. Even if it is one tenth, Fuso's history is long enough to defeat all other countries - of course it may also be Siebold. Morality has been learned, but it is not good to deceive the Europeans at that time with the old tricks of water user scholars.

What a scam. When Perry saw someone yelling on the Fuso boat, he thought of Siebold. The map he bought from him for $20,000 was of no use at all - I can't say it was completely useless.

But it's full of loopholes. Take the Uraga Suido in front of us as an example. If it weren't for the error in the map, how could our fleet have arrived here in the evening?

Moreover, Siebold was not the only one who had a "famous reputation that was difficult to live up to", there was another one on the ship!

What Admiral Perry was complaining about was the interpreter Wei Sanwei on the ship. Although he had a Chinese name, he was a real rice man. His original name was Williams. The 41-year-old Williams was a well-known Chinese expert and was known to be proficient in China.

Fusang. Just now Williams came forward and shouted to the Fusang people on the boat for a long time, but the people on the other side couldn't understand his Fusang! What a Fake!

Fortunately, Fuso people are still reliable. Seeing that their English was not working, they started to communicate in Lan.

Admiral Perry made a lot of preparations before going on his mission, and there was a Dutch translator named Portman on board.

The interpreter Fuso and the interpreter Miren had a good conversation in the language of the third country. After a while, Nakajima Saburosuke was finally allowed to board the rice ship.

But doing too many bad things has consequences.

In 1846, James Bettel, the admiral of the East Tianzhu Navy of the United States, came to Uraga and asked to establish relations with Fuso. At that time, the shogunate played a trick and deliberately let a samurai find an opportunity to humiliate Admiral Bettel. Bettel felt that it was official business at the time.

It was important not to get angry on the spot. As a result, the shogunate suddenly used this to find out the bottom line. The shogunate rejected Bettel's request, and Admiral Bettel, who was 63 years old at the time, died two years later. It is said that he was resentful of being humiliated in Fuso.

In your arms, you will be angry to death.

With this lesson learned and the great humiliation in the history of the navy, Admiral Perry had a very bad impression of Fuso. In order to prevent him from falling into the trap again, he was a hundred times more careful this time.

Before Nakajima Saburosuke boarded the boat, Mito said that he would only talk to senior officials of the shogunate, and you should go back and forth wherever you go. Nakajima had an idea and said that he was the deputy governor of Uraga, and then boarded the rice boat.

However, Admiral Perry did not show up after Nakajima got on board. He just asked his subordinates to come forward and tell him, "We are envoys from the United States. We have brought the credentials of the Commander-in-Chief. We must quickly ask senior officials of the shogunate to come forward to receive them. The deadline is three days. If it expires, it will become invalid."

No, something terrible might happen if it expires."

Nakajima quickly explained that he did not dare to say that Miren had made a mistake, so he could only say, "I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding here." "According to Fuso's practice, you have to go to Nagasaki, which is the official place to accept the credentials of various countries."

Since the Sino-British War in the South China Sea, the shogunate has always adopted a "no initiative, no rejection, no responsibility" attitude towards foreign envoys, especially those who fled to Edo Bay. They first coaxed them to Nagasaki, and then exchanged several letters.

Months, this trick works very well, most people just leave if they can’t hold it anymore.

When Admiral Perry submitted the plan in 1851, he pointed out that Fuso had always adopted scumbag, no, delaying tactics, so the talks could not be held in Nagasaki, but had to be held in Edo Bay. Only Fuso people with soldiers on the border would be willing to sit down and have serious talks.

Therefore, Nakajima's old trick cannot be sold, and Mi Ren once again emphasized the "three days" deadline, and then he would kick Nakajima and the interpreter off the ship.

Nakajima begged, saying that the news would not reach Edo Castle in three days.

How could anyone get to Uraga from Edo! The Mi people didn't listen, and only said they would consider it "as appropriate", and then drove the Fuso people and others off the ship.

In desperation, Nakajima had no choice but to go back and report to Uraga's envoy Toda Ujiei and his deputy Ido Hiromichi. The two adults did not dare to take the initiative, so they had to continue sending people to ask for instructions from Edo.

In fact, the shogunate held a major review meeting for storytelling last year and had already issued relevant instructions. It stands to reason that the two adults should just follow them.

But what's deceiving is that the assessment meeting was held too early - it is now early June of the sixth year of Jiayong, and the assessment meeting was held in late June of the fifth year of Jiayong. This is almost a year apart, so naturally the situation has changed.

In order to deal with this unprecedented crisis in a century, the shogunate suddenly appointed eight new coastal defense officials, plus the original Egawa Tarozaemon. Well, you can play two tables of mahjong and still have a substitute.

With more people and greater strength, the nine coastal defense agencies thought over and over again and came up with 13 major plans and 42 responses to the American envoys. They considered all aspects in extremely detail. The shogunate felt that it was safe.

Ordered Toda Ujiei and Ido Hiromichi to act according to the plan.

Toda and Ido didn't think it was a big deal at first. Anyway, there were big men holding up the sky when it fell. There were always people hanging around Uraga in the nine coastal defense posts - one was waiting for the rice ship to arrive, the other was training the troops, and the third was supervising.

Odaiba on both sides of Uraga Suido.

But let’s not say that people are unlucky enough to drink cold water and their teeth are blocked. The workload of the Uraga Odaiba has been greatly increased after the revised plan. As a result, it has not been completed yet. At the beginning of the month, there was a grand meeting of the shogunate. Several people who were originally hanging out in Uraga

Haibo Kake also went to Edo for a meeting - if he didn't go, it would be inappropriate, and it would be easy for others to blame him for the delay in Odaiba.

This rice boat was also in a hurry, and it happened to arrive on June 3rd. The big bosses were not there. Toda and Ido looked at each other in confusion as they looked at the thirteen major plans and the forty-two responses. It seemed clear at that time that the rice boat

It doesn't matter if someone is strong, it doesn't matter if someone can be bullied. Now that the paper has been turned over, these two people can't figure out what to do - without giving first-line authority, just giving a lot of detailed instructions is nonsense.

Too many chickens can't lay eggs, and too many people can only cause trouble. The number nine is similar to "bitter" in the Fuso language, and "bitter" means "bitter". The plan devised by the sea defense officer made Uraga's leader Toda and his deputy Ido complain endlessly, so they had to send someone to ask for instructions.

Without instructions, these two dare not be good at it - there are so many coastal defense agents who support fighting as soon as they meet, and some who want to be mature and prudent. Anyway, whatever Toda and Ido do is wrong. Come on, you guys make a decision on this matter first.

, we brothers resolutely obeyed.

Nakajima deceived people by saying that it takes three days to get from Uraga to Edo. In fact, this is the time it takes for a normal person to walk - it’s not about rushing in a hurry. In fact, the expedited filing date is June 5th (July 10th in the Western calendar).

Japan) arrived at the hands of the senior middlemen in Edo City early in the morning. The senior middlemen quickly convened a meeting. The wolf is really coming. What do you think should be done?

When things came to an end, the paper tiger showed its true colors. Thousands of clever ideas in the past seemed to be fantasy now. Now it was time to come up with suggestions. Everyone was dumbfounded - this time it was not empty vs. empty. Whose opinions were adopted?

If it is implemented, any adverse consequences will have to be settled later, so there is a collective silence.

The senior middlemen were so angry when they saw it that they asked to speak by name. But everyone present here is a veteran of thousands of rivers and lakes. It's not easy to talk nonsense. Anyway, after talking for a long time, you taste it carefully.

There is nothing practical about it.

But not everyone is like this. At least these nine coastal defense units are still good. However, the internal opinions of these few are not unanimous. The senior middlemen listened for a long time and couldn't decide whether to fight or not. In the end, the chief veteran Abe

The attendant agreed, "Be prepared for everything, and be sure to fight with dignity. Of course, it is also good to defeat the enemy without fighting. After all, the shogunate is compassionate, isn't it, benevolent and righteous?"

After the meeting, it was decided that all the nine coastal defense officers would go to Uraga without leaving any one behind. Normally you all scolded Fang Qiu, as if it would be a great loss if he didn't listen to you. This time, it's up to you to "make a smart decision".

This important task is entrusted to you - the big pot is tightly buckled.

Moreover, the senior middlemen found some "big people" to go to Uraga to investigate the reality. Sakuma Shoyama, as a celebrity who proposed the "Eight Strategies for Coastal Defense," was also included, so he and his student Yoshida appeared here.

Mr. Yoshida Nobukata arrived on the evening of June 7th, but today he spent a long time on the shore with his clairvoyance. Sakuma never said a word and did not hurry back to Edo.

I chose one of the teahouses and took the students to drink tea.

Yoshida didn't understand this very much, but the teacher must have a deep meaning, so just wait. After a long time, Sakuma sang two lines of crazy songs, "Taiping sleeps in peace, and the four cups sleep in the night"

.

"Shangxizhuan (a kind of fuso tea, homonymous to 'steamboat') wakes up dreams of peace, and after four cups, Yoshida can't sleep again." After hearing this, Yoshida couldn't help but admire his talent. He shivered smartly,
Chapter completed!